The Night and the Moon
by Dreamingoftwilight
Summary: Discontinued. I lack insipriation to continue. It's to old to start again. Sorry guys.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own the Bankotsu character, although I do own almost everything else in this story.

* * *

Far up in the mountains there is a shrine, the shrine of the moon. 

There were rumors of the shrine having amazing beauty, but there was another rumor . . . a rumor that if anyone killed the shrine's guardian you'd get amazing powers.

Because of men's greed to have the powers to themselves, many traveled to the shrine, but none returned.

Many more parties went up to visit the shrine, but still none returned. People in nearby villages began to get suspicious.

They thought that a demon or a strong warrior had taken over the shrine. A demon, they said, it must have been. I simple warrior could never kill so many.

The villagers began to make up stories. One told that if a human were to gaze upon the shrine they would die instantly. This rumor was instantly shunned; it seemed too silly to believe.

. . . but another story bloomed out of it . . .

Maybe when any living being gazes upon the face of the demon they are killed because of its fear of being called ugly, they thought. This rumor was also silly, of course, but it mattered not to the scared villagers anymore.

. . . And so the legend of the great moon shrine began to spread yonder. People believed the legend and none went up to view the shrine for many, many years.

. . . Until the legend came to one man's ears . . .

In a slaughtered village sat a raven haired man shining his sword. "Now after this shine you should look like new, Banyruu."

He smiled, "There, just perfect." The huge sword shined in the morning light of the red sunrise, the sunrise that means bloodshed.

A twig broke behind a hut.

The raven haired man got up, "Come out from hiding, I promise to kill you fast."

On the other side of the hut a young boy sat crying over his lost family and friends.

He walked over to the other side to find the boy.

The man picked the boy up by the front of his shirt. "What do we have here?"

The boy sniffled, "Y-you murdered m-my parents . . . wh-why?"

The man shrugged,"I was hired to kill them."

The little boy's mind began to work, trying to find a way to escape death . . . when something dawned him . . .

"Y-you said your n-name is B-Bankotsu . . . and t-that you want to-to beat e-everyone strong, r-right?"

He sighed, "Yeah, I did, but enough talk, this is time consuming," he held up his sword.

The boy squirmed. "W-wait! I know s-someone strong!"

Bankotsu steadied Banyruu. "Go on."

"T-there is a-a demon in the m-mountains. He-he has never been b-beaten."

"Where in the mountains?"

"A-a shrine, the-the moon sh-shrine."

"That's all I need from you." Bankotsu threw the boy against the ground and knocked him out.

He looked at his sword. "What do you say Banyruu? Up for a little journey?" He slung the sword over his shoulder and began walking towards the mountains.

* * *

Bankotsu had been traveling for three days along the river. His diet wasn't living up to his standards, and he was bored.

Bankotsu was not very happy.

He sighed, "You think that kid was lying to us, Banyruu?"

Up ahead was an old enormous oak tree. It hovered over the sky and many birds were nesting in it in these night hours.

An owl flew past Bankotsu and landed on a high branch on the old oak. It hooted at him and flew in circles above his head then landed on the branch again.

Bankotsu was getting annoyed now. "Shut up you stupid bird!"

The owl hooted louder, it was almost as if it purposely was trying to irritate him.

Bankotsu's patience was running thin. "SHUT _UP!_" He punched the tree only hard enough to make it quaver.

The owl dashed off the branch and flew in circles over his head again.

Bankotsu's patience reached its minimum. He struck the oak in the middle and it came crashing down, bird and all.

The night was serene and peaceful again.

"That's better, a little quiet."

He gazed up at the sky where the oak used to be. In the distance he could see the roof of an old temple . . .

. . . the shrine of the moon.

"Finally, I found it! I guess that kid wasn't making it up after all."

Bankotsu began walking towards the old temple, and to the demon which he believed to be inside.

Only a few minutes later Bankotsu reached the shrine. The outside looked rundown and vacant. The steps leading to the inside of the shrine were high and covered with leaves from nearby trees.

"Just up those steps is the shrine, and inside waits the demon waiting for us to defeat," he told his enormous sword.

The night sky shone with the mysteries of what was yet to come once he arrived inside the shrine.

During Bankotsu's hike to the top of the steps he heard a shuffle of feet above.

_Must be the demon,_ he thought.

Bankotsu sped up his approach.

The top of the steps was only a few yards from him. He had a clear view of the shrine.

The shrine had a sign with a four pointed star painted on it in purple; the symbol of the night.

Bankotsu moved his gaze to the top step.

There sat a woman, staring at him through serene grey eyes.

Bankotsu stopped a few steps away from the woman.

"Where can I find the undefeated demon," he demanded.

He noticed her hair was a sleek dark blue and her eyes resembled sliver glimmering moons.

She chuckled, "What do you want of this demon?"

"I want to beat him, obviously."

She got up from the steps to expose a slim figure wearing a blue and black kimono with sliver threads. The threads formed an intricate design of the night sky.

The skin on the woman's arms became visible as she clasped her hands together in front of her. They were pale and white as the moon.

She spoke in a smooth voice, "I'm afraid you're mistaken.

"Fine, if you want to be that way . . . ," Bankotsu pointed his sword at her. "Just tell me where he is or I'll have to kill you."

Her glimmering silver eyes turned sharp. "It is no 'he'."

He ran his fingers through his raven hair and laughed at her, "Are you saying _you_, a mere woman, is the demon?"

She approached him with the grace of a night breeze. "I am no demon."

Bankotsu readied his sword to match the woman's threatening advance. "Then who are you?"

The woman was now close enough to stroke Bankotsu's face.

With slender fingers she reached out a white hand and placed it on Banyruu without warning.

Bankotsu became paralyzed.

_What is this?_

He was near enough to see her jet black eyelashes fan out from her soft lids and to see her warm, pink cheeks accent her beautiful skin.

The woman truly could not be summed up by a simple 'beautiful'.

She smiled with gleaming teeth. "You must be tired, why don't you stay here tonight?" As polite as it sounded Bankotsu knew it was no question.

She released his sword and he was able to move freely again.

He flexed his fingers, "I could use a real meal, now that I think of it."

The woman nodded and her hair fell as a deep blue waterfall over her shoulders from the movement. "Follow me," she started walking to the shrine entrance.

Inside was the shrine with a tapestry hanging in the middle. The tapestry portrayed a scene of the night sky in its shining majestic grace. It resembled the woman's kimono, but the tapestry was simply much more detailed with its many colored threads and it being so realistic.

She gestured to a room. "You may stay here as long as you wish. I shall bring your dinner shortly." The woman bowed and left.

As Bankotsu examined the room he noticed a single bed in the corner and a door exiting from the other side of the room to the courtyard.

Bankotsu put down Banyruu and sat down on the bed.

_I need to figure out if this woman is the demon. She doesn't seem like she is, but her powers of the divine are so strong . . ._

Bankotsu's thoughts were interrupted by door sliding open from the side where the hallway was.

The gorgeous women held two trays. "I have brought you my best cooking. I hope it is to your liking."

He noticed as she placed the tray on the floor that it held various delicious foods. "Oh, I think it will be." His eyes shone with eagerness to taste the meal.

Bankotsu quickly dug in as soon as the woman set it on the floor.

The other tray in her hands left her in an uncomfortable position." May I eat with you," she asked politely.

"Sure," he spoke with his mouth full. _I need to learn things about this woman and beat her._

She sat down in front of him with a second tray that she had been carrying. She ate with the same grace as her walk, he noted.

He asked between bites, "So what's your name, anyway?"

She set down her fork. "My name is Masami. May I inquire your name as well?"

"I'm Bankotsu." He leaned back and put his arms behind his head. "Ah, that was good."

His tray was entirely cleaned of all food.

She smiled, "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

There was a few moments silence as they sat staring at each other awkwardly.

Bankotsu was first to brake the silence, "Well, I didn't come here to chat with you." He picked up Banyruu.

Masami gracefully got up and prepared her hand. "Do you really think you can beat me? I have guarded this shrine for many years, and I have never come across anyone stronger than me."

He chuckled, "I'm not like a normal human . . . and besides, you're just a normal priestess. . . Nothing special."

Her silver eyes darkened with menace. "I may be just a priestess, but I assure you I am not normal."

Bankotsu was skeptical, "Alright then, I guess I'll just have to find out."

"I guess you will."

Bankotsu swung his sword straight at Masami.

In a movement as fast as a shooting star the woman's hand stopped the sword in her palm. The aura surrounding her palm was visible to the naked eye.

"Interesting . . . You fuse all of your powers into one place and it creates a force strong enough to control even my Banyruu."

She shoved the sword away from her. "You can see that much from a single block . . . I'm impressed."

She lifted her hand so it was level with her forehead. A four-pointed star appeared in the middle of her forehead.

Her eyes narrowed so they resembled a cat's, "And now, you die."

She focused two fingers on Bankotsu and started chanting a spell in a language long forgotten.

_She's using that star to control her aura, if I make her loose concentration there's a chance she'll have to let go of her aura. Think . . . distraction, distraction . . ._

Bankotsu rapidly searched the small room for something that could distract the priestess, but all there was were the walls and . . .

_The walls!_

He slashed the walls surrounding Masami so they fell on top of her. _That won't hurt her, but it might make her have to let go of her aura so she can escape before the walls fall on her._

A cloud of dust arose to fog his vision.

On the other side of the mountains the sun was rising and giving off warnings of the start of a new day.

A gust of wind came from inside the dust cloud. A shot of blue and black came from the now ruins.

The priestess was only a few yards away from him.

Her dark blue hair flew around her in fury, "Enough play, I have no time for it. Die!" She fired energy from her aura at Bankotsu's heart.

The energy was fast, but Bankotsu wasn't called strong for nothing.

He jumped from it nearly to late, "Phew that was close."

The sun was finally over the mountain after the long night. Its rays bathed the mountains in light.

Masami's eyes widened in fear as the four pointed star vanished.

Bankotsu took her moment of vulnerability and ran from where he was directly to the woman. He raised Banyruu high over the woman's head as he jumped in midair.

She highered her arms over her face in defense, to scared to move.

There was a scraping sound as metal hit hard earth.

The sword was wedged in the ground next to Masami.

She stared at him in disbelief with beautiful, surprised eyes.

He smiled crookedly, "You truly are fascinating. It would be a shame to kill someone with such potential."

Masami organized herself so she looked graceful again then brushed the dirt off her kimono. "Potential for what?"

He slung Banyruu over his shoulder. "Oh, well, since I spared your life, I believe you owe me. . . And I was thinking of creating a group of human weapons that can assassin warlords for money."

She blinked with her dark lashes.

"I want you to be the first to join my group. You seem strong."

Masami straightened. "I cannot. It is my duty to protect the shrine of the moon."

Bankotsu smiled slyly. "Well, I noticed something from our battle. You certainly were in a rush to kill me, and I believe you lost control of your aura when the sun came up. So I put it together; you aren't a priestess when the sun comes up. You become a normal, defenseless human."

She lifted her chin, "I do not become completely defenseless. I'll have you know I keep some of my powers during the day."

He lifted an eyebrow, "Oh, really? Then I guess you wouldn't mind if I fought you again?"

Masami lowered her eyes. "No, I _would_ mind. My powers are weakened during the day, therefore, I would not be able to fight and live."

He smirked, "I thought so. Now, come with me and we can make a group of undefeatable murderers."

She shook her head and her deep blue hair moved around her head like a halo. "I cannot leave this shrine . . . but I plead of you, do not kill me! If I die this shrine will go to ruins and be robbed."

Bankotsu sighed. "I guess I'll just have to stay here until I can persuade you to join me."

The woman smiled, forgetting her unreadable expression.

He turned around and looked at the ruined room. ". . . but first, we should fix up those walls so I actually have a room."

Masami let go of her grace and formalities.

She threw her arms around Bankotsu, "Oh, thank you! Thank you!"

He patted her head and laughed, "Alright, alright."

She straightened and let go of him. "I am sorry. I just was so happy that the shrine would be alright . . ."

He scratched his head. "Hey, it's okay to let go of the formalities now that I want you to be on my team."

Masami ignored the team remark.

Instead she turned around and examined the destroyed area. "We have a lot of work to do."

Bankotsu's shoulders slumped. "Yeah . . . I guess we do . . . ," his words had double meaning.


	2. Chapter 2

All day Bankotsu and Masami worked in the blazing sun, fixing the shrine that they had damaged during their battle the previous night.

Bankotsu jumped off the roof that he had been fixing. Masami was cleaning out the courtyard of all the debris.

"Hey, Masami, how about we go out and get some wood from the forest? That would make things a lot faster, because we wouldn't have to keep fixing everything. We could just start new," he stated.

Her beautiful silver moon-eyes widened. "Ah, why don't we just use everything we have here? So we don't waste the wood," her voice shook.

Bankotsu knew something was up. He stared at her, then said nonchalantly, "Well, alright, if you say so. It _is _your shrine."

She nodded and quickly walked to another corner of the courtyard and proceeded in sweeping.

_What's going on with her? What's she hiding?_

He sighed. Besides the having to figure out what she's hiding, he still has to convince her to join him.

Bankotsu glanced at her. Her long dark blue hair glistened in the daylight. _She really is beautiful . . ._

He brought his gaze to her face; to his astonishment Masami looked deeply sad. His heart nearly broke to see the face of such exquisiteness be drawn down in lines of sorrow.

He unwillingly looked away from her and jumped back on the roof to continue hammering nails into the roof tiles.

The hot sun burned Bankotsu's skin. He was sweating and exhausted, it was about time to break it in.

"Bankotsu, I have dinner ready if you want to come in," Masami called from the ground. Right on queue.

"Yeah, I'll be right down," he shouted back. Bankotsu wiped the sweat off his face and slid off the roof.

Standing near where he landed, Masami waited patiently for Bankotsu to follow her inside.

The mouthwatering scent of cooked foods lofted from inside the shrine. "Damn, what are you cooking in there, Masami, that smells so good?"

She smiled coyly, "_Cooked, _past tense, Bankotsu. I made you some salmon and some other assorted foods."

He walked inside to find the meal set and ready to eat. Bakotsu sat down eagerly and started digging in.

A loud laughing echoed through the shrine.

Bankotsu looked up with food still on his face and in his mouth. Masami was laughing, and it looked as if she had forgotten her grace. Her face showed an emotion, which was rare for her.

She wiped a tear that had formed from her laughing so hard. "I'm sorry, it-it's just so funny. You eating like that, with food flying everywhere . . . and-and, with your face stuffed . . . ," she exploded into another burst of laughter.

Bankotsu smiled. It was good to know that she can let herself free near him . . . and he was glad that Masami looked happy.

His heart lurched at how joyful she looked.

He loved to see her smile and laugh, and right then and there he made a vow. He vowed to make her be happy as much as possible.

xXxXxXx

A week had gone by now, and Bankotsu and Masami had finished fixing up the shrine.

Bankotsu yawned and rolled out of bed. The sun shone through the sliding doors on the courtyard side.

Still in his night robe, he flung open the courtyard doors.

The otherside shone with the beauty of the new spring.

A surge of dark blue hair shimmered on the fountain. Masami sat there, gazing at the sky. Her shimmering moon eyes shifted to Bankotsu, "Good morning. Were your dreams pleasant?"

He ran his fingers through his raven hair. All of the dreams he had had consisted of glistening kimonos and sparkling sliver eyes. "They were very pleasant."

She smiled, "Good." Masami looked Bankotsu up and down.

The night rob he wore had slid over his shoulder just enough to see his muscular collar bone. _This man really is something._

Masami realized that Bankotsu hadn't brought up the assassination group all week. Maybe he dropped it, or maybe he had decided to just kill her. The latter she hoped she was wrong the think.

Bankotsu smiled and looked up, "Fine day, isn't it?"

Masami smiled with him, "Yes, it is." No, he wouldn't kill her. If her guess is right Bankotsu is very stubborn and won't give up until he gets his way. So he should keep trying to persuade her—but then why hadn't he brought it up?

Masami hoped with all her heart that he wouldn't ever bring it up again and would leave her on good terms.

No, that's not what she hoped for—She hoped he wouldn't bring it up again and he would stay here with her on good terms. Masami _is_ lonely, after all.

It had been years since anyone other than herself had lived in the shrine. Her mother had lived here with her until Masami turned ten, then she had "gone off to roam other places and to see more sights," or so her mother had said.

Leaving Masami all alone to fend against the demons and humans who came to seek out the shrine selfishly. It was true that even then she was powerful, but it was hard to control her powers.

Her aura flowed freely, reacting to her emotions. If Masami was happy her aura would make everything grow around her and make her float inched above the ground, if she was sad the aura would kill everything in a ten foot radius to her, and if she was mad the aura would explode things around her.

Masami grew tired of the constant cycle, so she slowly got rid of her emotions. The Masami on the surface was formal and calm, the Masami underneath was blank.

Masami stayed empty until she turned sixteen when she was looking through some books in the shrine and stumbled upon an old scroll.

The scroll told a story of how the night and the moon came to be together.

For a very long time the night and the moon argued about who was more important, the night or the moon. The night was needed so creatures could sleep, but the moon was needed to provide light in the time of darkness. They argued and argued, until a compromise was made.

The compromise said that there would be a shrine just for the moon, and in return the night would get extraordinary powers. Except the night would have to send a representative down to earth to get the powers, and that representative would have to protect the shrine. The night would also get amazing beauty.

The only way the moon would agree to let the night have beauty and power was if the night would not be able to leave the shrine and every time a new child is born into the family it will have to take the blessing and curse when they turn ten.

And so the great Treaty of the Camille was made.

The first human night was born inside the moon shrine. She was a girl with explicit beauty. Every movement described her as the night, but the moon wanted her name to be Tsikiko. The night said that that's not right, if she's like the night name her Yoi.

During this whole feud the star had sat there and had to watch his two closest friends fight. Now that the two were fighting over the stupidest things, like the name, he decided to take action.

At the time the child was ten and her powers were flowing around freely. Her powers of the divine were actually her own aura. Being her aura the power reacted to all her emotions, both happy and sadness.

Seeing this problem and the problem of the child being nameless the star put the two together.

One night the star snuck around the night and the moon and whispered into the girl's ear, "Your name is Hoshi." This name meant star, and it also was the activating word to a spell the star had worked the other night.

The spell would lock all her powers in her third eye, making the third eye shift form into a purple four pointed star. The third eye and powers could only be called upon when the owner of third eye concentrated. This seal would be passed down in every generation of the mortal night, so this problem would never arise again.

When the night and the moon heard about it though they got angry. They had wanted to name the mortal night, not the _star._

So to get back at the star they broke the seal. The only way star could fix it was if he put the seal back on and made all the children in the night's human family tree discover the seal themselves. They would then have to activate the spell with the keyword, but they would have to find out the keyword on their own.

The night and the moon did not know this or that the mortal night had no control over their powers without the spell. So they left future generations to figure out it themselves.

Masami had been so happy when she found all of this. She had thought that she finally had a way to control her aura. Masami had quickly whispered the word "Hoshi".

She didn't feel any different, but as days went by she noticed nothing reacting to her emotions. It had worked! Except, she couldn't access her powers.

One night Masami concentrated on her third eye, to see if that was how she could access her powers. It worked.

Now Masami had complete control over her powers. She even learned spells to voice so she could direct her powers to do certain things.

It was all great, until she realized she had no one to share it with. No one to share her joy with.

It had been many years since her mother left, and she had been alone all that time. It felt wonderful to finally have company. Masami didn't want Bankotsu to ever leave.


End file.
